A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that a woman can move forward with her lawsuit alleging defamation and other claims against the rapper Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr., professionally known as T.I., and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Harris of the R&B girl group Xscape.
The ruling handed down Tuesday denied anti-SLAPP motions brought by the Harrises and co-defendant Shekinah Anderson. California’s anti-SLAPP law prevents “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” or threats of lawsuits intended to intimidate others from exercising their First Amendment rights.
The judge found that plaintiff Sabrina Peterson showed a “probability of prevailing” on claims against the couple and Anderson for defamation, invasion of privacy, interference with business interests and infliction of emotional distress.
Peterson’s suit arose out of a Jan. 2021 post she published to Instagram in which she accused the 40-year-old rapper of holding a gun to her head. She also shared statements from over 30 women who calleged they were drugged and sexually assaulted by T.I. and his wife.
The couple denied the allegations in an official statement and on their respective Instagram pages. Tiny Harris reportedly posted a photo of Peterson’s eight-year-old son and told Peterson to stop harassing her family and to “seek help.” T.I. posted an eight-minute video denying the allegations.
Peterson claimed Anderson, a friend of the Harrises who appeared on their VH1 reality show “T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle,” allegedly made a defamatory Instagram post in Jan. 2021 in which she claimed Peterson was engaged in “sexual acts” with the couple.
“Here, Anderson attempted to discredit Peterson through salacious sexual allegations, which she had no basis for,” the judge wrote Tuesday.
Peterson said she has been on the receiving end of harassment and threats since the responses from the Harrises and Anderson became public. In court, she testified that she moved to California from Atlanta, where the Harrises reside, to expand a cannabis business and market to investors.
The Harrises and Anderson “knew, or should have known, that their false and baseless attacks on my moral character would severely impair my ability to attract investors,” Peterson said.
Peterson claimed she offered to dismiss the suit in return for a public apology and admission by the defendants of making false remarks. They declined.
“Their failure to set the record straight has left me with this lawsuit as the only means by which to clear my name of the salacious allegation that originated with the Harrises, and which they caused to be published online to millions of people,” Peterson said.
In March of this year, the Los Angeles Police Department opened an investigation into allegations of drugging and sexual assault against the Harrises. The LAPD has not disclosed the status of that investigation, but an attorney for the couple said in a statement in May that neither the rapper nor his wife had yet been contacted or questioned by law enforcement.
